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4
Megapixel Coolpix!

I'll get
right to it: This is a killer camera. No sense keeping that from
you right up front.

I'm a design freak and
a great appreciator of well-executed ergonomics, control interfaces,
logic and functionality. Style counts with me, too, but it doesn't
dominate my judgment when it comes to a tool that is designed
to be used.

A product
can be quite handsome, but if it doesn't deliver superior function,
I won't let it into my life in a meaningful way. Not to go off
on a rant here, but life's too short to put up with a continuous
stream of shortcomings simply because a useful thing like a digital
camera or other form of technology "looks good" from
across the room.

I once
purchased one of the Minolta super-thin Dimage X cameras, and
while the exterior was about as nifty as you would ever wish
a piece of technology to be (many design awards can't be wrong,
eh?), the images were very sub-standard. Back it went. And because
I buy from local camera stores rather than from places that charge
a "re-stocking fee," they cheerfully refunded my money.
Same with this one, except there will be no return unless something
comes up that I haven't experienced yet.

Here is
the new Coolpix 4500. It is the best-looking of the Nikon twist
cameras that started with the CP900, CP950, CP990, CP995 and
now this. Although the 9xx series seems to have become the 4xxx
series (at least as long as the 4 megapixel chips are the imaging
heart of a string of models) the central organizing genius of
these cameras is the simple twist body that makes many angles
of viewing and pointing possible.

When the
950 appeared, the twist design carried over from the 900. By
the 995, the swivel had evolved into a major rugged, solid, sturdy
mechanical link that bridged the sections of a very logical,
comfortable string of camera models.

The
4500's swivel is the best yet and exhibits zero play or wiggle.
Interior detent stops click it solidly vertical to horizontal
forward and backward with enough strength to accommodate all
the Nikon accessory lenses and even a few odd optical attachments
I own that Nikon didn't have in mind. With a heavy converter
attached to the optical section, the swivel still stays put and
delivers the same 285-degree twist action I've grown to appreciate.

The previous
serious model, the Coolpix 5000 and coming Coolpix 5700 both
use a flip out monitor screens, and while that works in many
interesting ways, the 4500 is less complicated by its simpler
design. Just two pieces; optical items on the left, control and
monitoring items on the right. Each a handful. All the essentials
housed in a neat, two-chunk package.

The image
is 2272 x 1704 pixels in an imager that takes up the same amount
of physical space as the 3.14 megapixel imagers used in the 990/995
cameras. I find it very interesting to see how the 4-megapixel
image sensor coverage stacks up to the 5-megapixel images from
the premium 5xxx series. Here's a size comparison:

This
is the difference from the 4500's 4-megapixel image (the inner
rectangle) and the same shot blown up to the 5-megapixel size
underneath (both scaled together for display above). I often
crop this much into my 5-megapixel shots, so in theory I won't
be losing many pixels if I exercise a tad more framing discrimination.

The camera's
feature list is long and complete. Nikon took the time to renovate
the menu structure and streamline a few features along the way.
Gone are the Brightness +/- options, but the much more useful
Contrast +/- are right where you would want them to be.

Here's
a quick rundown:

4:1 zoom

Pop-up
micro flash

Unique
joy-button

5X review
zoom

Fast internal
computer

Image
sizes of 320, 640, 1024, 1280, 1600 and 2272 wide

3:2 aspect
full size image option

Voice
notes any time AFTER shooting

Movie
modes with sound

CF card
storage media

Ergonomic
best of breed

Available
now

$700 MSRP
- $600 typical cash price

Sculpted
polymer and metal body cladding

16 Scene
modes

Auto and
Manual exposure and priority modes

BSS--Best
Shot Selector

NR--Automatic
Noise Reduction for long, long exposures

1/2000th
sec top shutter speed

5-Zone
Auto Focus

Matrix,
Center, Spot meters

Anti-Red
eye flash mode

ISO 100,
200, 400, 800 on board

Saturation
adjustment

3 B&W
modes (two in Saturation menu, the other in a Scene Mode)

Perspective
control

Panorama
Assist

Double
exposure capability

Sharpening
adjustment

EV+/-
adjustment

Continuous
and Multi-shot 16 "motor drive" modes

Takes
the 28mm full range of excellent Nikon converter optics.

Has the
same flash sync socket found on the 9xx cameras.

Have Cake.
Eat Cake. Sill have Cake, Too.

The CP4500
in flat mode shows its most compact configuration. Smaller, by
a noticeable amount than the 950 which used to be my favorite
for inside tuxedo jacket pocket storage. And the 4500 has a more
tuxedo look, so that's a plus, I suppose.

The zoom
covers the same basic range of the 995's 4:1 zoom. Full wide
is the equivalent of a 38mm lens on a 35mm film camera, and full
telephoto is equal to a 152mm lens. The actual focal lengths
are 7.85~32mm. Hey, that's equal to 4.08:1!

Flashy
Feature

The
on-camera flash pops up when needed automatically. A support
arm crosses the top of the optical section and lifts what looks
like the world's smallest flash head up out of the extreme left
top part of the body. A window about 0.5 x 0.25 inches (13 x
8 mm) is all the surface there is for emitting light. The whole
arm that lifts out of the case is itself only half of an inch
wide and a small circular feature at the extreme end of the flash
arm houses the flash sensor.

Since the
flash intensity is variable over a +/- 2-stop range in the menu
system, I could force it to behave at the upper range of its
output to test how far it would penetrate the scene. At about
16 feet from the camera, an ISO 100 shot produced an image of
acceptable brightness. Boost the ISO and the flash reaches farther,
just as you would expect.

One
thing to look for with Nikon Speedlights, including this one--make
sure you have set the camera to "Speedlight" white
balance. It will look much more natural than when using a factory
setting of "Daylight."

Big Gold
Star Award*

Which brings
up another point. In the past, I've moaned for years that Nikon's
nomenclature could use a bit of revision in its list of factory
white balance settings. The 990/995/775/5000 and others all have
used the term "Fine" to mean "Daylight."
This has been confusing in a minor way since Fine is also the
name for a compression setting. Not any more. Now it is clearly
labeled "Daylight" and earns a *BGS (Big Gold Star)
from me.

The 4500's
white balance settings include Nikon's excellent warming/cooling
feature that allows you to change the color effect slightly away
from the precise factory setting for Daylight, Incandescent,
Cloudy and Speedlight settings by +/- 3 units of change. Negative
numbers slide the camera to a warmer look, and this can be remembered
if one thinks of it as being a lower, warmer color temperature
result. Color temperature is lower for indoor light bulbs and
higher (bluer or cooler) for sunlight.

Fluorescent
light can be set to FL1, FL2 and FL3 to match the three most
popular fluorescent tube colors, but as a practical matter, Auto
White balance on this camera is so good that you could simply
use that for all but the most precise work. Then, if you really
wanted perfect color under fluorescents, you can always use the
Manual white balance setting.

Happy,
Happy. Joy, Joy

Selecting
things in the menu of the 4500 is facilitated by a new type of
button on this Nikon. It's a miniature joystick of sorts that
takes up very little space on the back of the camera under the
monitor. It moves horizontally and vertically to scroll through
things or slide around within enlarged review images, but it
also pushes inward to confirm certain selections.

It's a
Joy Button that is a joy to work. I've seen this sort of control
implemented on other devices, but for tactile feel and ergonomic
ease, this earns another *BGS from me. In the space usually occupied
by a simple button, Nikon has managed to implement a five-way
switch that feels exactly as it should and promotes unambiguous
control of functions assigned to it.

Seeing/Believing

In order
to build this camera to this size, the viewing monitor is smaller
than on previous models. It's a 1.5-inch diagonal (36mm) but
it is bright and sharp. I wouldn't wish to use it for Manual
focusing all the time, but it is quite bright in any sort of
shade and has an anti-reflective coating on it to reduce glare.
A menu item allows you to boost its back light.

The optical
viewfinder seems to be a bit of improvement over the one on my
CP995. As you study the camera it becomes obvious that the height
of the eyepiece and front element are not the same. The viewfinder
is more complex than it looks to the casual gaze. Inside the
camera body, it makes a zig-zag the way many binoculars and field
telescopes do with prisms.

It's a
clever optical design that is required to zoom in perfect relationship
with the camera lens. And on the camera in my hands the image
in the optical viewfinder agrees well with the final result,
causing a well-centered image. Of course, as with virtually all
optical viewfinders, it shows you a view that is cropped into
the final result, so even if you don't center your subject, the
final image will have more area around the part you were aware
of as you made the framing. Other 9xx and 5xxx Nikons weren't
as well centered as this one. I hope that it is a trend for all
future models. Another *BGS.

Image

How's that
image? First results suggest that it has all the earmarks of
current Nikon compact camera setup. Great colorimetry, good shadow
detail, crisp contrast and about the same per-pixel detail of
previous models. Meaning that the major pictorial difference
seems to come from simply having more pixels on the page.

As you
can see from the flower image above, the warm rays of the nearly
setting sun, the telephoto zoom setting that allows the background
to blur at full aperture and the overall general impression of
the shot are all working just fine. I'll shoot some test images
soon to see how accurate those statements are. In the mean time,
check the detailed reviews and previews from others to see how
it stacks up in consensus.

FX?

A camera
that knows how to party! The Scene modes do a lot. Portrait,
Party, Night Portrait, Beach/Snow, Landscape, Sunset, Night Landscape,
Museum, Fireworks, Close Up, Copy, Back Light, Multiple Exposure,
Panorama Assist, Sports and Dawn/Dusk settings provide the user
with good combinations of internal adjustments in anticipation
of each of these.

Scene settings
are like whole-camera macro setups. If you understand what is
contained within them, they become easy ways to accomplish complex
settings. With so many (16) to choose among, it is clear that
they aren't Photography 101 or Nikon Made Simple. There are at
least 16 common modes to setting up a camera this versatile that
make life easier if you don't have to twiddle six different ideas
to achieve each mode.

For fine,
technically precise work you probably wouldn't use Scene modes,
but that entirely depends on the situation at hand. Subject to
your own approval. Nobody is putting a lens to your head threatening
to shoot if you don't use them. They're clever options. Did I
just rant again??

The
eventual eBook chapter about this camera will get into deep detail
as to what each does, but some highlights are here:

Multiple
Exposure
scene mode is really Double Exposure mode. You get two, not more.
Just the bare minimum on the term "multiple."

Still,
that's enough to shoot the moon in tele zoom, widen back to the
city at night and put that big moon in the sky over the foreground
image. A minor example of the idea is pictured here.

The ghost
of shot #1 remains on the monitor screen as you frame shot #2
making the act of composing the two visible during the second
exposure. The camera takes the second shot, shows it to you for
a second or two, then thinks about what it has to do.

Watch out.
This mode doesn't allow a great range of exposure compensation.
Shooting the moon would be better if a spot meter exposure could
be used. For the example shot here, I relied on only EV+/- to
assist with exposure. Also, digital zoom can throw you if you
try to combine it into the idea.

As a technique for making
a neon sign montage, it would be very cool to play with. As you
get better at the technique of visualizing for double exposures,
Photoshop or Photoshop Elements will allow more control in creating
them. Shots can then be miles apart, more than two and adjusted
after the fact into new combinations. Layer the images and make
the top ones into "Screen" blending mode and you will
see the effect immediately.

Panorama
Assist sets
you up for all the manual settings you would normally wish to
have and then ghosts part of the image as you frame for the next
horizontal adjacent segment. This keeps adding to the next framing
until you punch the joy button to stop the process. About 1/3
of the image is overlapped and it is fairly easy to use the portion
of the previous shot to align and frame the next segment.

Copy scene sets the camera
to instant B&W. In non-scene mode the same thing can be accessed
but the scene mode turns the speedlight off, presumably so whatever
you are "copying" wouldn't get the glare of a camera
flash. So Copy scene is really non-flash B&W.

Perspective
Control is
a two-step process. First you shoot the image in any still mode.
Then in Playback mode, you select the Perspective Control in
the Playback menu and manipulate the joystick until things look
better. It only works with images 1600 pixels wide or smaller,
but it doesn't permanently change your original shot. Instead,
it invents a new, "controlled" version and writes that
to the next available memory file number. Meaning you don't have
to do this at the moment you shoot before moving to the next
shot. For whatever reason, the internal processing of manipulating
and writing a "controlled" image takes for e v e r
. . .

As
a feature it's a mixed blessing. The control range is wide but
the implementation is not perfect. From these shots, you can
see the extreme effect it can have on an image that didn't need
perspective control. Nice to know that the in-camera effect has
such a wide range of adjustment.

Sort of
a fun-house mirror trick done digitally.

Photoshop
does a MUCH better job of this, but P-Con certainly is useful
for fun effects and rough estimates of how things might look
later, back in the digital darkroom. I would suggest using it
for preliminary visualization, not for final images.

Preliminary
Conclusions

The
layout and functionality of this camera is decidedly superior
to all previous Coolpix models I've used. No exaggeration. I
have yet to open up the manual, and experience from previous
models has gotten me this far without confusion. Nikon's manuals
have been getting better over the past several models, so I'll
see what secrets hide within it.

The added
features such as double exposure, panorama assist, perspective
control and post-exposure verbal image notes are good, solid
tools. The 4500 retains all the very highly desirable Nikon features
including Continuous shooting at all sizes, BSS, Contrast control,
high quality compression implementation, saturation control,
monochrome shooting, a great zoom range, manual adjustment of
white balance settings, a decent flash on board, easy connection
to external flash units, and the undeniable usefulness of that
split-body swivel design.

Anybody
upgrading from previous 9xx split body cameras will probably
be as impressed as I am with this machine. Newcomers will find
their first experience with the camera to be enhanced by the
many, many options and flexibilities of operation the camera
has tucked away under the hood.

It's small,
light, rugged, stylish, feature-packed, high quality, low cost,
balanced, sensible, versatile, cleverly conceived, ergonomic
and pretty, too. The design team that produced this camera goes
to the head of the class. With rare exception, everything they've
touched has been improved, consolidated and/or re-thought compared
to the previous 9xx cameras.

At last
a camera from Nikon that deserves a good solid "A*"
rating from my first encounters with it. Some of its features
suggest it may get extra points above that. I'll continue test
driving and using it and reporting here what I find.

Bottom
line:

Nikon Coolpix
4500: A

-iNova,
July 19, 2002 (Updated over time)

*US school grading system uses A
as its top score although some teachers give A+ and the extremely
rare A++ grades for exceptionally outstanding work. Many elements
of this camera deserve A+ rating, but a few B's average it out
as being merely excellent, as opposed to super-excellent. In
other words, this is one of the rare, and well-appreciated, great
digital cameras.

Essays
on Features:

Pros and
Cons of Scenes

I know
that Nikon is just being helpful with the 16 quick to access
Scene Modes, but with 16 choices to select among, making the
RIGHT choice involves a certain level of appreciation as to what
each really hides beneath that simplified, iconic surface.

Beach/Snow
makes sense. "Oh, for the bright background situations."
Um, isn't that what Back-Light is all about too? "Oh, that
one is like Beach/Snow with FLASH! I get it."

If we have
Sunset and Dawn/Dusk, how come we don't have Mid-To-Late-Afternoon
and Just-Before-Lunch scene modes? And no special setting for
Noon? Hey, wait a minute. Here I am in the biggest Scene Mode
selection process Nikon has ever made, and not one of these easy
to select choices is "Normal"? You mean I have to bail
OUT of Scene mode to get to Normal? Where's the fun in that?

Couldn't
we just have a setting that figures out the time of day, day
of the year (you know, for sun angle settings) and latitude?
Now Dawn/Dusk would just be a moment along a continuum from Night
Landscape to Noon and back.

All of
this has been to build up to what I really think. And that is
this:

If you
learn how to adjust the EV+/-, Shutter Speed, Aperture, White
Balance and flash settings, you won't need at least 11 of these
scene modes, but you just might make a poor choice with them
due to inexperience combined with the feeling that the icons
really give you good information.

In order
to get the most out of the Scene modes, you may have to spend
2/3 of the time you would have spent learning the essentials
instead. And if you are new to digital photography, the sheer
number of them makes implementation less than straightforward,
which is the reason they were invented to begin with--to give
the newcomer lots of help.

No, you
don't have to use Museum Scene Mode in Theme Parks. Put the camera
in AUTO for the best average success ratio.

Image Test
1

Always
curious, I've begun to try to qualify the 4500 as an image capture
system. A couple of surprising things have been found.

Commmmpresssssssion:

While the
image compression seems to do just about the same per-pixel job
in the 4500 as it has been doing in the previous Coolpix cameras,
the wonderful phenomenon of the 5000's 3:2 mode has evaporated.

What was
that phenomenon, you may ask? The 5000 delivers full frame and
3:2 images on demand, as do all the major Coolpix cameras, but
when shooting in 3:2 mode it delivers much more economy of file
size than its 11% smaller footprint. Meaning, that depending
on the compression setting you use in 3:2 mode, you can get many
more shots into your CF card than just 11% more, but only with
the CP5000. At BASIC compression, for instance, you can get a
whopping 79% more images on the card, simply by accepting an
11% smaller shot. Sign me up!

But the
4500 doesn't maintain this feature. Sigh. I knew it was too good
to be true. But the weird thing is this: It usually takes MORE
memory space to hold the 4500's 3:2 shot, even though it is 11%
smaller than the full size (4:3 aspect) image. Huh? What the??..?!..!!!

Why did
I say "usually?" I've done tests that show it both
ways. Sometimes it takes more memory space, and sometimes it
takes less. When I figure out WHY, I'll let you know.

Color:

This is
not definitive, but it is interesting. The 4500 in my hands does
not have the same colorimetry as the 5000 I've been shooting
with. This first test is nowhere near definitive, but it shows
something I had been vaguely aware of in other shots. The 4500
is redder in tungsten light than the 5000. Here's a roll-over
that shows the difference even after Photoshop had been used
with each image to "neutralize the grays" in the art
piece.

It's a
"rollover" shot of a Barry Kite print, and each camera
was set to Tungsten (Incandescent in the WB list), ISO 100, Manual
exposure of 1/2 sec, f/7.6 and f/7.8, NR engaged (due to the
long shutter speed and small f-stops) all on a tripod with the
self-timer tripping the shutter. Move your mouse onto the image
to show the CP5000. No mouse = CP4500.

The hard
part about setting up this shot was getting the same image-per-pixel
size in the camera. In order to do that, I had to zoom farther
into the scene with the 4500 than with the 5000. There were more
pixels in the 5000's shot, but only out at the edges. Both images
are exactly 1:1 here.

Sorry about
the miss-registration. The 4500 was sitting literally on top
of the 5000. Detail in these 1:1 slices confirm that the PER-PIXEL
detail is virtually identical. Check the Kite signature, for
instance.

While there
are some detail differences in things like the specular highlights,
the color jump is the Big Difference. Since the neutral parts
of the Kite image contained some degree of tint in each, I've
used Photoshop Curves control to sample the same gray area of
each into colorlessness. Still, the characteristic warmer--in
fact redder--results of the 4500 show as obvious. Nikon has either
changed the colorimetry or one of these cameras is either plus
red or plus green! Now I'm wondering what Daylight and Manual
White Balance shots will bring.

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